Just One Of Those Days
by Princess-Rachy
Summary: Kate has just one of those days ... TATE! [Oneshot] R&R!


Kate set her keys on the kitchen table and picked up the phone before collapsing onto her couch. She was about to press speed-dial one when suddenly there was a loud crash from the other room. She grabbed at her gun instinctively and raced to where her front door used to be. Gibbs, Tony and McGee stood in her hallway with guns drawn. Her front door was lying on the floor.

"Kate!" Tony breathed a sigh of relief as they all holstered their guns.

"Where the hell have you been?" Gibbs barked, obviously extremely pissed off.

McGee slowly moved to pick up her door and attempted to put it back in place.

"Thank God," Tony whispered under his breath as he slumped onto one end of her couch.

Kate ran her fingers through her hair and looked apologetically at Gibbs, who was glaring at her. She sighed.

"I need coffee before we do this," she said as she gestured for them to sit and made her way into the kitchen. It had been a really, really long morning and all she wanted to do was go to bed. She knew it would be a long while before she could do that though. She'd have to first explain to Gibbs, DiNozzo and McGee why she didn't show up to work this morning and why she didn't call them to explain sooner. While she waited for the kettle to boil she buried her face in her hands.

Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder and she spun around to face a worried-looking DiNozzo.

"Are you OK?" he asked her seriously.

"Yeah," she gave him a forced smile. "Just peachy," she claimed sarcastically. She made the coffees and returned to the lounge room with Tony trailing behind her.

"I'm sorry," she said after they were all seated and sipping their coffee. Gibbs' piercing blue eyes stared at her. "Right, I guess that's not the best way to start," she mumbled.

"Explain, Agent Todd. Now," Gibbs demanded.

Taking a deep breath, Kate told them the whole story. She told them of how her landlord had cut her power during the night and so after finally falling asleep at 3am her alarm failed to go off at 5 and she woke up an hour later than usual. She told them how there was a roadblock on the way to work and she had to take a detour. There were yellow detour signs to follow for about 10 minutes until she hit a deserted road and the signs stopped. She had no idea where she was and she reached for her cell phone to ring Gibbs, but the battery was dead. She had left it on charge over night but, with the power being cut, it hadn't charged properly. She drove on hoping to find some sort of indication of where she was until her car died. She had broken down on the edge of the road in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone. So she proceeded to walk back the way she had come because she vaguely remembered passing a gas station some fifteen minutes ago. It took her an hour and a half to get there and then it took another half hour for a taxi to arrive to take her home. She explained to them that she would have called from the gas station but all her numbers were in her cell phone and she didn't know them by heart as she used them on speed-dial all the time. Then she told them how the taxi driver was a complete sleaze and when she moved to get out of the car he had grabbed her arm to pull her back in. In her completely pissed-off state she really had no time for him and so proceeded to punch him in the face before finally entering her house and going immediately to phone them.

"Next thing I know, there's an almighty crash and someone has bashed my front door down, which by the way, one of you is paying to have fixed," she finished.

The three men looked at her. McGee looked overwhelmed. Tony looked kind of sorry. And Gibbs didn't really have a specific expression. His face always remained the same.

There was a moment of silence until Gibbs stood up and set his coffee mug on the table.

"Don't be late tomorrow," he said as he moved toward where the door was perched in the doorway. McGee got up to follow him, giving Kate a small smile.

Gibbs moved the door aside and, before walking out, looked her in the eye, smiled a rare smile and said "And nice work with the taxi driver."

When they left, Kate sank into her couch and closed her eyes. She felt herself drifting off to sleep. She didn't realize she was so exhausted. Well, she knew she was tired, but not _this _tired. Without realizing it, she fell sideways to lie on the couch, only her head came into contact with something that didn't feel like the couch. She opened her eyes to find herself looking up at a smirking DiNozzo.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I forgot you were here." She tried unsuccessfully to sit up again. "Little help?" she put her hands out in front of her so he could help her sit up.

"If you stayed to tease and taunt me then you can leave right now. I'm so not in the mood," she told him.

"I didn't," he said. "Boss wants me to fill you in on what you missed this morning. It can wait till later though. I'll leave if you want. Call me when you wake up and I'll come get you tomorrow?" he suggested.

She stared at him intently. "Who are you and what have you done with my Tony?"

"_Your_ Tony?" He smirked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Before she could reply, her home phone rang. She groaned and got up to answer it.

"Hello?... How much!... How long for?... " Kate groaned. "Yeah, thanks a lot," she mumbled and hung up.

She walked dejectedly back into the lounge to find DiNozzo fiddling with her answering machine.

"What are you doing?"

He spun around quickly and stood in front of the machine to block her view of it. "N-nothing. Who was on the phone?"

"Mechanic. Car's gonna cost a fortune!" Then, for some unknown reason, tears started to well up in her eyes. She blinked hard to keep them from falling. It had just been one of those days. To keep from getting emotional, she tried to concentrate on something else. Like why the hell Tony was trying to hide her answering machine from her.

She walked over to it and he reluctantly stepped aside. The machine flashed '05' and Kate pushed the button to hear her messages.

"I'm just gonna go- " Tony started but Kate hushed him to hear the machine.

"Hey Katie, Boss is lookin' for you. You're in some serious trouble little lady! I'd get over here as fast as you can if I were you. Ciao Bella!"

BEEP!

"Hey Kate, it's Tony again. Boss is getting pissed and he's taking out on me cause you're not here. You owe me for this! I'll let it slide in exchange for dinner tomorrow night, your shout?"

BEEP!

"Well you're mobile's switched off and you're not answering your home phone so I don't know where you are or what you're doing, but could you please stop whatever it is and come to work? Boss keeps making me call you and Abby's getting worried… hinky feelings."

BEEP!

"Kate… please return my calls? Abby's really worried now… so am I. Please be safe…I- I-"

BEEP!

"McGee misses you… well, OK, _I_ miss you… Probie probably does too but he didn't actually say anything… I'm coming to find you. "

BEEP!

Kate slowly turned to face Tony, who was putting on his jacket and looking more than a little embarrassed. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both. Then she surprised them both by hugging Tony. He held her tightly and kissed the top of her head gently.

When she finally composed herself, she looked up at him.

"Sorry," she blushed as she stepped back from him.

He grinned. "Who are you and what have you done with _my_ Katie?"

She wiped her eyes and laughed, before he drew her into another hug.

Just one of those days.


End file.
